With the All Star rosters being announced today at 2PM on TBS, I figured this was my last chance to stick my chest out and list which pitchers I would put in the All Star game. Yes, I am violating both my gentleman's agreement with CTC to not blog this holiday weekend and my own antipathy towards weekend blogging, but here goes:
I'll name twelve pitchers per league but I won't reserve specific slots for relievers or starters.
American League:
- Cliff Lee (11-1 record, 2.26 ERA) - he's fallen off a bit but still the #1 guy
- John Danks (5-4, 2.50)- no flashy record but great numbers
- Roy Halladay (10-6, 2.88) - six complete games and best K:BB ratio
- Justin Duchscherer (9-5, 1.96) - simply unhittable
- Jon Lester (7-3, 3.21) - need a Red Sock pitcher
- Felix Hernandez (6-5, 2.83) - need a Mariner player
- Joe Saunders (12-4, 3.04) - AL wins leader
- Mike Mussina (11-6, 3.64) - does crosswords and is sarcastic
- Mariano Rivera (23 saves) - zero blown saves
- Francisco Rodriguez (34 saves) - record-breaking pace for saves
- Joe Nathan (24 saves) - saves really close games
- Joakim Soria (23 saves) - need a Royal
National League:
- Tim Lincecum (10-1, 2.49) - best pitcher in baseball
- Edinson Volquez (10-3, 2.24) - only reason to watch Reds games
- Ben Sheets (10-2, 2.77) - high strikeouts, low walks
- Dan Haren (8-5, 2.83) - surpassed Webb as best D-back
- Cole Hamels (9-5, 3.22) - hope his arm don't fall off
- Carlos Zambrano (9-3, 2.96) - strikeouts are down but so are tater tots
- Tim Hudson (9-6, 3.19) - carrying a hurt pitching staff in ATL
- Aaron Cook (11-5, 3.38) - need a Rockie
- Johan Santana (7-7, 2.96) - can't blame him for his shitty team
- Brandon Webb (12-4, 3.43) - gaudy win total
- Brad Lidge (19 saves) - he's Senor Shutdown this year
- Brian Wilson (24 saves) - has saved 61% of Giants wins
So there you have it. No Kerry Wood, Adam Wainwright, Kyle Lohse, Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly, or Braden Looper. No Cliff Floyd, Vicente Padilla, Andy Sonnanstine, Scott Kazmir, George Sherrill, or Jonathan Papelbon. So sue me.
I'd have gone with Jurrjens (8-4 3.09 ERA with 75 K) over Hudson. And he's a sexy rookie
Man oh man, I want to go see Santana v. Lincecum on Wednesday in Shea.
I have a meat hangover.
Well, the Braves had em loaded in the bottom of the 15th. WE COULDA HAD SHRIMP
Loaded in the bottom of the 17th, no outs.
Well no shrimp but a win in the longest game ever at Turner. Wheee
Cliff Floyd pulled in a hamstring trying to figure out why he's been included with all these pitchers.
Gavin and Cliff pulled an Aykroyd-Murphy and traded places.